{"id":1449,"date":"2016-01-02T22:30:01","date_gmt":"2016-01-03T03:30:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.slentz.us\/wordpress\/?p=1449"},"modified":"2016-01-02T22:30:01","modified_gmt":"2016-01-03T03:30:01","slug":"2016-a-fresh-start-in-gods-word","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/slentz.org\/blog\/devotional\/2016-a-fresh-start-in-gods-word\/","title":{"rendered":"2016 \u2013 A Fresh Start in God&#039;s Word"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" height=\"1024\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"1453\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/slentz.org\/blog\/devotional\/2016-a-fresh-start-in-gods-word\/attachment\/2016biblereadingcartoon_curved-shadow3\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/slentz.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/2016BibleReadingCartoon_curved-shadow3.jpg?fit=3276%2C2532&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"3276,2532\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"2016BibleReadingCartoon_curved-shadow3\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/slentz.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/2016BibleReadingCartoon_curved-shadow3.jpg?fit=300%2C232&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/slentz.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/2016BibleReadingCartoon_curved-shadow3.jpg?fit=1024%2C791&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"alignleft size-large wp-image-1453\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/slentz.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/2016BibleReadingCartoon_curved-shadow3-1024x791.jpg?fit=1024%2C1024\" alt=\"2016BibleReadingCartoon_curved-shadow3\" width=\"1024\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/slentz.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/2016BibleReadingCartoon_curved-shadow3.jpg?resize=1024%2C791&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/slentz.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/2016BibleReadingCartoon_curved-shadow3.jpg?resize=300%2C232&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/slentz.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/2016BibleReadingCartoon_curved-shadow3.jpg?resize=768%2C594&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/slentz.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/2016BibleReadingCartoon_curved-shadow3.jpg?w=2120&amp;ssl=1 2120w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/slentz.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/2016BibleReadingCartoon_curved-shadow3.jpg?w=3180&amp;ssl=1 3180w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><br \/>\nJanuary 1st has arrived. 2016 stretches before us. A fresh pen and a brand new book of crisp, blank pages has been set before us. What will your opening words be?<br \/>\nPerhaps years of failed New Year&#8217;s resolutions have dampened your resolve and the thought of making new resolution is just a little bit painful. Yet throughout Scripture we see so many examples of how God loves to give us a fresh start on life! Look at the life-view upon which the Apostle Paul laid a tight\u00a0hold:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.<br \/>\nBrethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet;<br \/>\n<strong> but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead<\/strong>,<br \/>\nI press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:12-14 NASB).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I have in mind a list of resolutions \u2013 ones with which I\u00a0seriously\u00a0plan to challenge myself, but\u00a0my first\u00a0and favorite\u00a0resolutions\u00a0have always involved preparing a plan for studying, memorizing, and reading through\u00a0those &#8220;Wonderful\u00a0Words of Life&#8221; \u2013 the Bible, God&#8217;s living and holy Word. Over the years I have developed\u00a0my own\u00a0Bible Reading plans. Some worked well. Some didn&#8217;t.<br \/>\nNevertheless, in the past five years, I do feel that I have settled into a reading plan that suits me well. Furthermore, with the aid of modern technology (computers, iPhones, and a Google Calendar), I now have my Bible Reading Plan and my Bible Memory Verse Program\u00a0available to me wherever I go. Stuck in traffic? A perfect\u00a0time to listen to the Bible on my iPhone. Waiting in a doctor&#8217;s office? A wonderful time to review those memory verses or finish up the\u00a0 daily Bible reading!<br \/>\nBelow is a link to a webpage where these plans can be viewed and downloaded:<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/slentz.org\/bible\/\" target=\"_blank\">Bible Reading Plan and Bible Memory Verse Program<\/a><br \/>\nI pray that this New Year of 2016 will be an awesome year of falling in love with God&#8217;s\u00a0 Living Word!<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Psalms 119:97-103 (NKJV)<\/strong><br \/>\nOh, how I love Your law!<br \/>\nIt is my meditation all the day.<br \/>\nYou, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies;<br \/>\nFor they are ever with me.<br \/>\nI have more understanding than all my teachers,<br \/>\nFor Your testimonies are my meditation.<br \/>\nI understand more than the ancients,<br \/>\nBecause I keep Your precepts.<br \/>\nI have restrained my feet from every evil way,<br \/>\nThat I may keep Your word.<br \/>\nI have not departed from Your judgments,<br \/>\nFor You Yourself have taught me.<br \/>\nHow sweet are Your words to my taste,<br \/>\nSweeter than honey to my mouth!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>January 1st has arrived. 2016 stretches before us. A fresh pen and a brand new book of crisp, blank pages has been set before us. &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5,10],"tags":[34,35,132,149,181,230,240],"class_list":["post-1449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotional","category-memory-verse-cards","tag-bible-memory-verse-program","tag-bible-reading-plans","tag-love-the-word","tag-new-year","tag-resolutions","tag-vision","tag-word-of-god"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8ofw-nn","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/slentz.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/slentz.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/slentz.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slentz.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slentz.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/slentz.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1449\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/slentz.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slentz.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slentz.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}